


15 Days of Signet/Echo

by lady_mab



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: 15 Days of FatT, 15 Days of FatT 2020, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 3,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23179861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_mab/pseuds/lady_mab
Summary: 15 Days of Friends at the Table 2020 - but make it Signet/Echo
Relationships: Echo Reverie/⸢Signet⸣
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Day 1 - Transfixed

**Author's Note:**

> because i am nothing if not on my own indulgent bullshit you're welcome 
> 
> also they're all incredibly short but that's okay bite sized nuggets to enjoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> set in a random au i made where signet runs a host/ess bar, [you can see the other big here](https://lady-mab.dreamwidth.org/389720.html)

The first time that Echo saw the Madam of the Gilded Butterfly perform, they could not look away. (Well, not just the first time. Every time after. No matter what she does, they can't help but stare.)

They went to the club under some sort of 'Stag Night' reasoning for Even, though the club was _way_ too classy for anything of the sort. Was it Kent's idea? Probably, or at least he suggested the venue. It's more performance art, part burlesque, but all around captivating.

Just not the place that Echo would have normally thought to have gone, well, _ever_.

The last act finds the stage filled with silks hanging from rigging -- pale blues and golds, liquid in the lighting. A low melody fills the room, and it makes Echo think of wind through tall grass, of lying on their back and watching the clouds pass over their head. 

The Madam appears at the back of the theater, illuminated by little more than the lighting across the tables and the glow of the stage. She wears a flowing robe of pearlescent fabric and a serene smile.

Echo isn't even sure that this is supposed to be an act, and that she didn't just come to watch the show herself, until ribbons of silk cascade from the ceiling and she reaches for the closest. 

The audience murmurs, several of them ducking aside only to find that the silks brush a few inches over their heads in a perfect wavering ocean. Echo reaches up to touch one, and it curls away from their searching fingers like a shy fern.

The Madam wraps the silk around her hand and, with an ease that earns a rush of _oooh_ s from the theater, pulls herself up -- hand over hand until she is lost in the strands. She extends a leg, deftly catching onto the next, and swings across the distance.

Echo's jaw drops as they watch, though they're certain they're not the only one transfixed by this performance.

She moves through the silks like she's walking on clouds, ethereal and pale in the watery lighting. And when she reaches the stage, melting into the warm golden light, the actual performance begins -- and Echo can't look away. 


	2. Day 2 - Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise i did an art!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to lu for the masquerade outfit designs! [Click here for the original](http://benjaminheath.tumblr.com/post/109541756051/sylvia-and-kara-in-studio-by-benjamin-heath)


	3. Day 3 - Ghosts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> set in "my place to land" au!

They can see the outline of Empyrean through Signet's office windows, and they find themself sitting on the bench where she told them the story of the Divines coming from the stars to watch the landscape change. 

By day, a few people come and go from the wreckage, small enough to be ants from this distance. At first, they thought the people were scavengers, coming to pick any last little bit that Advent might have left behind. 

"They're mourners," Signet tells them when they ask. "They're coming to take what little Empyrean has left to give them." 

At night, the figures are fireflies, bobbing lights floating around in the darkness.

One evening, Signet joins them, and the two sit in silence as they watch the lanterns dance in patterns that only they know. 

"Belgard still holds a tiny piece of Empyrean," Signet says suddenly, her voice fragile and her expression fathomless in the half-light of her sitting room. It's dim enough that they can't see their reflection on the glass, but enough that Echo can still make out her features. 

They look to her. They don't know enough about Belgard to comment on that. 

"Not enough to make any sort of difference… And without Blooming, it would mean nothing. But… still…" She touches the tips of her fingers to the window and traces the outline of Empyrean's symbol. They recognize it easily enough after the last few days. 

"Like a ghost?"

She considers this, but nothing in her expression shifts. "I suppose to an extent, yes. Belgard holds tiny pieces of all the Divines. Their Excerpts, too." Here, the lines of her flicker. The furrows in her brow lengthen, her mouth softens, and her eyes glance away from the scene outside. "Nothing but a collection of ghosts." 

Echo hesitates, then reaches out and lets their fingers brush her shoulder. Not much, but enough that she looks to them. "Memories, too. The Excerpts you knew, the Divines you worked alongside… Like an album." 

"I am a museum, Echo. That's all Belgard and I are."

"I've never been to a museum," they say without thinking, and Signet's sadness shifts to a small, private smile. "But I would imagine that they house all sorts of wonderful and important things for people to come and relive."

She shakes her head, but instead of disagreeing with them, she sighs and leans back -- letting her eyes close and her body relax. "I suppose that is true."

"Besides, it's better than being a haunted house, right?" This gets Signet to laugh, so they press on. "Empty and filled with spooky things and cobwebs and the wind going _oooooo_ through broken windows." 

"You are right. No cobwebs and broken windows." 

"But there _are_ spooky things going _oooooo_?" They're probably pushing it, but she's laughing and that's the important thing. 

Signet gives a wink as she rises to her feet. "I'm nearly three hundred, Echo, and I've been an Excerpt for many of those. Who knows what sort of wild and unknown creatures have been passed on to me from Belgard." 

This they _really_ have no response for, but Signet returns to her office before they can even begin to formulate an answer. 


	4. Day 4 - Consquences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "my place to land" au!

Signet watches as, between them, Tender and Fourteen lift the unconscious body. In the back of her mind, Belgard hums -- caution and concern, and still that underlying _ache_.

Behind her, Even waits, patient but agitated.

She waits until Tender's and Fourteen's footsteps and idle chatter fades before closing her eyes and giving into the echoing discord in her chest. Just for a moment. All she can allow herself is a second to feel the loss.

Then she sighs and rises to her feet. "You might as well say something. I know you've been waiting."

"Signet—”

"Even." 

He lets out a strained breath. "You could have been injured." Whatever he wants to say, this clearly wasn't it.

"They would not have drawn their sword on me."

"You didn't know that." 

"I didn't have to." Belgard knew, could read the pieces of Echo's story faster than she could provide them to Signet. So she spoke in absolutes, and Signet followed accordingly.

Even scrubs at his face with one hand, and makes a sound in the back of his throat. "Don't be difficult right now." 

_Difficult_ ? How was she being difficult? That was the word he used for his ten year old daughter, not for her. She made the choice to pursue the data instead of what every inch of her screamed at her to do. _For the good of the people_ , Blooming told her during their last call. _We're long past doing things for ourselves._

She doesn't know how to respond, so she doesn't. At least not right away. Wait and see if he would try to explain himself, or if the words would eventually claw their way out of her throat. 

She's curious to see what sort of excuse she could come up with, but any of them would sound like a lie. 

"This is about Blooming, isn't it?" 

It stings, like she knew it would. The lines of the memorandum are burned into her ribs so that each time her heart beat, it would brush against them as a reminder.

Signet turns on her heel. "This is not a conversation I want to have." 

"We _need to_ —” 

"No. Nothing changes." 

"Signet—" 

She stoops to pick up her sash, studying the familiar fabric as she wraps it around her palm. She knows every fiber of it, every stitch. It keeps her focused, grounded. "Not now." 

"Signet—!" 

"Even: Not. Now." There's a beat, then she closes her eyes and inhales. Holds it. Exhales, and as she does, pictures the strain leaving her. Piecing it out to the rest of the world to carry for her. "It's too soon to think about it." 

He doesn't argue, and for that, she's grateful. "I just ask that you be more careful." 

She doesn't quite shake her head, but it's a curt side-to-side motion before she forces herself to look at him. "Nothing changes." 

The argument is there, on his face. She can see every word he wants to say etched into the lines of his expression. 

But he's a good soldier, and he's loyal to her, so he doesn't question it. "Of course, Lady Excerpt." 

Signet studies him a moment longer. "Let's get back to the ship, shall we?" She doesn't wait for him to respond before moving on. 


	5. Day 5 - Rings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "my place to land" au!

Echo doesn't quite drag Signet out to the tree, but they hold her hand and tug her after and she stumbles and laughs as she tries to keep up. "It's not going anywhere, Little Flame," she teases, but allows them to pull. 

"I know. But it's very rare that I get to show you something amazing." 

Signet gives their hand a soft but gentle squeeze, and their ears go pink from between the strands of their hair. "You know what my come back is to that." 

Echo doesn't quite roll their eyes, but it's a near enough thing and Signet presses a kiss to their cheek anyway. 

They reach the crest of the knoll, and Echo points down into the half-hearted copse of trees. 

The one they want is evident: What once must have been a massive and majestic tree is gnarled and charred, the remains of it twisted where it was struck by lightning. It's been long enough that there is no longer the smell of smoke on the breeze, but Signet swears she can taste the ozone lingering at the scene. 

"Oh," she says softly, and she moves without waiting for Echo to tug her the rest of the way. "It must have been so beautiful when still standing." 

"It was. Ballad and Lumen and I would spend _so_ much time climbing it." Echo reaches out to let their fingers trace over the wood, then flick away at some of the crumbling bark. "There are no other trees except for this little small collection for miles, and this was the largest by far." 

There's a small, sad part of Signet that is reminded of the fallen Divines, of standing inside Empyrean and reading the lines of history inside of it. 

Echo's touch grazes against hers, then their hand settles at the center of the exposed stump. Ring after ring extends from their palm. "I used to imagine that if I pressed my hand to the tree, I could hear the Mirage," they admit, laughing a little at their childish memory. "That the hum I felt was coming from the roots and tapping into that magic ley line." 

Signet lets her hand cover theirs, and the small, sad part inside of her falls silent. "You hear something older," she murmurs, her eyes slipping shut. "Something very little people pause to hear."

A laugh escapes them, and they shake their head in amusement. "Thanks for trying to justify the dumb shit I thought of as a kid." 

She traces the concentric circles out as they get larger and larger, fingers skipping over the jagged lumps and whorls left behind by the lightning strike. "They were true to you, and I think that is what is important." 

Echo studies her profile for a moment longer before casting their gaze up at the bare branches. "Do you think it will grow again?" 

"Not the same tree, no. But something new will. And maybe there will be new secrets for it to tell you, or memories of the tree you grew up knowing." She reaches out and tucks her arm through theirs, and the two of them listen to the wind whispering through the leaves of the mourning trees. 


	6. Day 6 - Cut Loose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> modern au!!

Echo nudges the driver door shut with their hip and then moves to the backseat, humming as they pick through the equipment in their backpack. "This is your last chance to back out," they say, satisfied with what they find and zipping up the bag.

Signet quirks an eyebrow, though her expression is made somewhat less imposing as she is in the process of rubbing in the sunscreen on her cheeks. "It's hiking, Echo, I don't see how I could regret it." 

"That's what all unsuspecting people say." It's more of a taunt than a reflection, really. They've had several friends that announced Echo was trying to do some long-form torture. Grand especially was not cut out for it, and that had been a long five days. 

"You've already prepared me for it." She pulls out her equipment and closes the passenger side door. All of her stuff is new, and normally that would annoy Echo if they came across someone on a trail that looked as shiny and inexperienced as Signet looks. It usually meant that the poor sucker got conned into paying way too much money for stuff that is either useless or simply a more expensive version of a perfectly serviceable (and cheaper) option.

(CoughGrandcough) 

But Signet was more than willing to sit down and talk through the logistics of obtaining her hiking gear, and they gave her the specifics that she would need. All things considered, she did a much better job preparing. 

"It's not a beginner's trail, but it's definitely not incredibly challenging. More like endurance?" They check the decal on their car, check their keys, and then lock the doors. "Six days off the grid, round trip. Ready?" 

She reaches out and takes their hand in hers, then presses a kiss to the corner of their mouth. She smells like sunscreen, and they can't help the fond smile. "Lead on." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought, "okay so what are their stress-relief activities, I've already written Signet's, how would Echo's manifest..." and then you got "cross-country hiker Echo Reverie hoping that Signet doesn't hate them after they take her on A TOTALLY BABY 6 DAY HIKE IT'S FINE because this is how they decompress and it would be nice if their girlfriend enjoyed it on occasions"


	7. Day 7 - Children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "my place to land" setting!

"Signet?" Echo asks, and she looks up from where she's bouncing Mellow on her knee. 

They don't immediately follow up, so she offers a soft, "Hm?" 

Echo draws the silence out longer, considering the sleeping child in their arms, before finally taking a breath. "Do you ever think about having kids?" 

She stops, though her attention is immediately pulled away when Mellow pulls at her hands. "Not really. I don't think I'm very fit to be a mother." 

Their laugh is a huff of breath. "Really?" 

"Really really. I'm a great aunt, though." Her voice drips into a cooing tone as she tickles the child in her lap. "Aren't I the best aunt?" 

"Yes!" he says, and cheers when she gives him a kiss on the cheek. 

Signet tosses them a brief look, but their attention is still on the baby. "I'm sorry, you picked a terrible partner if you want children." She tries to pass the tone off as joking, keeping it light so that the actual children in the room don't pick up on the implication. 

"No, it's not…" Echo pauses, then lets out another huff. "Never mind." 

"No, don't never mind this." She sets the toddler back in his playpen before moving to sit alongside Echo. She drapes her arms around them and rests her chin on their shoulder. "What is it?" 

They shrug with one arm and refuse to meet her gaze. "I'm definitely far less qualified as a parent, and enjoy being able to spend time with Even's kids without feeling responsible for actually raising them." 

She chuckles and presses her nose to the side of their face. "They love you too." 

"I pale in comparison to Favorite Aunt Signet."

"Oh come now, that's not true." Signet reaches out and runs the pad of her finger against the sleeping baby's cheek. "I would never roll around in the grass with them." 

" _You_ let them play in Belgard." 

She laughs, attempting to muffle the sound into Echo's shoulder. "Even was livid when he found out the first time I did that." 

Echo tilts their head back so they can give her a kiss, and she smiles into it. "So it's not that I want to have kids… I just think it must be hard on Even to be separated from them and Cascabel all the time." 

"I've tried to nicely ask him to retire for years and he tells me to stop calling him an old man." 

"And Cascabel won't come live on Thyrsus because…?" 

Signet shakes her head. "It is hard being raised on the last wandering city. More and more cultures don't feel like it is grounded in the way that they need in order to raise a stable family." 

Echo doesn't say anything in response, but she can feel the weight of their silence. 

So instead she kisses their temple and says, "Now that things are settling down in general between us and Advent, though, Even can finally take his husband out on more date nights, which means more time babysitting the kids." 

"Ah, the true motivational factor behind all those peace talks! I knew it." Echo laughs as she kisses them again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm that dumbass that forgot i already [wrote a version of this conversation](https://lady-mab.dreamwidth.org/345204.html) but whatever the more the merrier


	8. Day 10 - Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "my place to land" au!

"Legato keeps asking when I'm going to move back to Perigian," Echo says through a yawn one evening, sprawled out on half of Signet's bed.

She looks up from her vanity, brush pausing in its motion. "Do you plan on it?"

"No." The answer is simple, said with finality, but Signet can't help the curiosity. 

"Even though it's your home?"

They snort, rolling over so they can prop their head up in their hand and watch her. "You honestly think that, after everything, I can call that my home?"

She drops her gaze, unwilling to meet it -- even though she can feel their stare on the back of her neck, reflecting in the mirror back to her. "It is where your family is."

Echo is silent, and when she chances a look up, they're watching their finger trace an idle pattern into her duvet. "Yeah, they are. My parents are there, my sister is there. Hell, Ballad and Lumen are going to move back, I think."

"But you're not?" 

To her surprise, they actually look _embarrassed_. "Signet, don't make me say it."

"Say what?" she asks, because she honestly isn't too sure what they're failing to imply. Signet rises to her feet and crosses to the bed, one knee on the mattress as she leans towards them. "Echo, if there is somewhere you would rather be, you can let me know--"

"Oh, Divines," they sigh, flopping back into the pillows and covering their face with both hands. "Something something, you're my home, et cetera, fill in the rest of the sappy speech yourself I refuse."

She blinks, and then the words sink in and she lets out a delighted laugh. "There's no need to be embarrassed!"

They groan, the sound muffled. "It is the sappiest thing I have ever said in my life."

"I don't know, you've said some pretty lovely things," she teases, fingers curling around their ankle.

Echo peeks at her from between their fingers, though the grumbles of protest are quickly erased by a startled shout as she gives their ankle a mighty tug. They slide down the bed towards her, and any embarrassment they might have had melts into laughter.

Signet crawls up onto the bed over them, peppering their cheek and neck with kisses. "And you're my heart, Echo Reverie," she says in between pecks.

They reach up and tangle their fingers through the loose strands of her hair, guiding her in for a proper kiss. "So no, Signet, I'm not going to move back to my parents' house, or the Tides. I'm going to stay here, with you, because _you_ are my home."

"What an absolutely lovely thing to say," Signet murmurs against their lips, and her laughter is muffled through their kiss.


	9. Day 14 - Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> modern day au!

The warmth of the sun is a welcome relief after the long, cold winter, and they were lucky enough that the beach wasn't too crowded. Signet reclines on the chair, her legs stretched out and toes buried in the sand. Around her is the gentle chaos of their friends enjoying the beach, and she lets it lull her into a comfortable half-asleep state. 

Her eyes slip shut, drowsy in the heat of the late-spring day, and her book droops against her chest as she drifts in and out of a nap.

A drop of cold hits her nose, and that is the only warning she gets before a trickle of the salty water pools against her neck and rolls down her shoulder and chest.

Signet yelps at the sudden chill, jerking upright, and Echo laughs as they scramble back out of the way.

"Sorry--" they're saying through their laughter, though they don't much look sorry. They are dripping, swim clothes hanging from their frame and covered in sand. Their hair has a bedraggled, just wrung out look to it. "You looked so cozy."

"I _was_ ," she says, though there's no real venom behind it as she lifts up her wrap to dab the water away. "The water is absolutely freezing."

"It is!" They unfurl their towel next to her chair, then reach up and wrap a hand wrong her ankle to give it a tug. "Come sit with me."

She sets aside her book, and moves the chair out of the way for someone else to use -- then sits down on the edge of Echo's towel. "Scoot over."

They do, and she takes her towel to start drying out their hair. "How long were you in there?"

"Dunno. Ten, fifteen minutes? It got too cold so I thought I'd come out and thaw a bit." Echo plucks up the sunscreen and squirts it into their hand. "Have you reapplied?"

"Not recently," she replies demurely, and pulls her braid over her shoulder. "If you wouldn't mind."

"It would be an absolute pleasure." They wait until she turns her back to them before leaning over and pressing cold lips to the top of her spine.

Signet wriggles at the feeling, and then again as their incredibly cold hands begin to rub in the sunscreen across her shoulder blades. "I should have asked you to warm up first!"

Echo hums and sets their chin on her shoulder. "Help me out?" they ask and plant their palms against her waist -- a loose enough hold so that she could break away if she wanted to, but still one that keeps her in place as she squirms. "My hands are so cold! Please warm them up for me!" They lean against her back, placing more kisses against the curve of her neck and wrapping their arms fully around her in a hug.

Her laughter is tinged with a squeal as she tries and fails to free herself. "You're an awful creature from the deep! What have you done to Echo?"

"Gobbled them up."

"May I have them back?"

They hum again as they loosen their grip, and she turns to face them -- their knees pressed together and the half-applied sunscreen gathering bits of sand against her thighs. "And what gift would you give to the waves to get them back?"

Signet tucks the tip of her fingers beneath their chin and leads them in for a kiss.

Their smile is slow and lazy as she pulls back. "That's a start," they murmur, but before she can ask for clarification, Echo reaches out and scoops her into their arms.

In the same easy motion, they rise to their feet with Signet in tow.

There is one confusing moment where she attempts to figure out what just happened, but then her brain clicks into gear and Echo running down the sandy incline towards the eagerly waiting surf.


End file.
